Rehman SU, Tabish M. Alternative splicing of ACE2 possibly generates variants that may limit the entry of SARS-CoV-2: a potential therapeutic approach using SSOs.
Clin Sci (Lond) 2020;
134:1143-50. [PMID:
32442315 DOI:
10.1042/CS20200419]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2020] [Revised: 05/04/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) plays an essential role in maintaining the balance of the renin-angiotensin system and also serves as a receptor for the SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and HCoV-NL63. Following the recent outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection, there has been an urgent need to develop therapeutic interventions. ACE2 is a potential target for many treatment approaches for the SARS-CoV-2. With the help of bioinformatics, we have predicted several novel exons of the human ACE2 gene. The inclusion of novel exons located in the 5'UTR/intronic region in the mature transcript may remove the critical ACE2 residues responsible for the interaction with the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2, thus preventing their binding and entry into the cell. Additionally, inclusion of a novel predicted exons located in the 3'UTR by alternative splicing may remove the C-terminal transmembrane domain of ACE2 and generate soluble ACE2 isoforms. Splice-switching antisense oligonucleotides (SSOs) have been employed effectively as a therapeutic strategy in several disease conditions. Alternative splicing of the ACE2 gene could similarly be modulated using SSOs to exclude critical domains required for the entry of SARS-CoV-2. Strategies can also be designed to deliver these SSOs directly to the lungs in order to minimize the damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis.
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